United States Public Colleges Ranked by Lowest Acceptance Rate

Below is a ranking of the 633 public colleges in the United States with the lowest acceptance rate for freshman undergraduate applications. University of California Los Angeles leads the list by accepting 9% of high school students that applied.

Acceptance rate is a measure of the competitiveness of a school. Lower acceptance rates are more competitive and may require a higher GPA, SAT/ACT score, and other factors to be considered for admission.

List of United States Public Colleges Ranked by Lowest Acceptance Rate
College	Acceptance Rate
Texas A&M University Kingsville Kingsville, Texas	91%
Central Washington University Ellensburg, Washington	91%
Eastern Washington University Cheney, Washington	91%
University of Wisconsin Milwaukee Milwaukee, Wisconsin	91%
University of Washington Bothell Campus Bothell, Washington	91%
University of California Merced Merced, California	91%
Auburn University at Montgomery Montgomery, Alabama	92%
Louisiana State University Alexandria Alexandria, Louisiana	92%
Michigan Technological University Houghton, Michigan	92%
Mississippi Valley State University Itta Bena, Mississippi	92%
Eastern New Mexico University Main Campus Portales, New Mexico	92%
College of Staten Island CUNY Staten Island, New York	92%
SUNY College of Technology at Canton Canton, New York	92%
SUNY Morrisville Morrisville, New York	92%
University of North Carolina Asheville Asheville, North Carolina	92%
University of Toledo Toledo, Ohio	92%
East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania	92%
Penn State Shenango Sharon, Pennsylvania	92%

Search and filter all 633 colleges

This list is updated annually based on the latest data from the National Center for Education Statistics.
Last updated: August 2026

Data source: IPEDS 2025 survey for academic year 2024/2025 - National Center for Education Statistics.